~ Seasonal fragrance and flavour from my country kitchens in England and France....celebrating local seasonal produce with traditional feasts and festivals, culinary notes, reviews, recipes and musings from home and abroad....whilst preparing family food with flair ~

Organic Easter Menu: French Herb & Garlic Lamb and Pots au Chocolat

Organic Easter Menu:

French Herb & Garlic Lamb and Pots au Chocolat

Chocolate Mousse with Mini Eggs and Cream

It’s with great pleasure that I announce my continuing collaboration with Organic UK throughout 2014 – more about that to come in May, but for now I wanted to share some great indulgent recipes for people to enjoy with their family over Easter weekend, and what can be more indulgent than fresh British organic lamb and chocolate! My two recipes for today take advantage of a lovely leg of organic lamb, that was reduced to only £10 a kilo when I bought it, as well as some seasonal organic vegetables and some Fair Trade organic chocolate…….and not just one type of chocolate, but MILK chocolate and WHITE chocolate. I have devised and created a simple menu that will please the whole family and yields lots of leftovers for more family meals.

French garlic and herb roast lamb

My Easter menu has a distinctive “Gallic” flair and the leg of lamb is slow roasted in red wine with a mustard and garlic crust and lots of fresh herbs; the dessert is simplicity itself and my little Pots au Chocolats are decorated with freshly whipped cream and mini chocolate eggs, as well as some chocolate bunnies I made with a silicon mould! I decided to serve the lamb with steamed Savoy cabbage, such a wonderful seasonal vegetable and a big tray of roasted vegetables for easy, crunch and flavour. The recipe I used for my roasted vegetables was Roasted “Tartan Veggies” with Smoked Sea Salt, Honey and Thyme, but as there were lots of herbs with the lamb, I omitted the thyme and also cut the vegetables into larger wedges too.

French garlic and herb roast lamb with roasted veggies

I roasted the vegetables and the lamb in separate trays until they were nearly cooked and then I sat the lamb on top of the veggies for the last half an hour of cooking, so I could use the lamb juices and make some gravy. The little chocolate pots can be made the day before if time is tight and then you can add the cream and decorate them just before serving…..the whole meal is so easy to cook, making sure you have time to help hunt for Easter eggs in the garden, or have a relaxing read of the Sunday papers.

Pots au Chocolats

My total shopping bill for the complete meal came to £37: 49 (lamb, vegetables, chocolate, cream and chocolate eggs); that was for the meat, vegetables and ingredients for the chocolate mousse, and my meal fed a family of four with leftovers for two more meals, so my initial outlay of £37:49 was a very thrifty way to feed my family (and friends) with fabulous organic produce. The lamb cost £22:50, and fed four people for three separate meals, making each meal work out at only £1:87 a head and with the added vegetables I worked out that each meal was about £2:00 a head, which is fantastic! My costs were offset as I didn’t have to buy any eggs (for the dessert), as I have my own free-range hens, but that would have only added £1:50 to the total bill.

French garlic and herb roast lamb

If you would like to see my menus from last year, as menu planning inspiration, then they are all here: Thrifty and Organic Meal Planners. I will be starting the same meal planners in May this year, and I hope you will join me at the beginning of each month to see what I have been cooking up! I’ll leave you with my two recipes for French Herb & Garlic Lamb and Pots au Chocolat for now, and DO let me know if you make either of these recipes, and what you thought of them. Have a wonderful Easter next week, although I will be back before then with more news, chat and recipes and have a great weekend. Karen

Chocolate Mousse with Mini Eggs and Cream

Disclaimer: Organic UK is paying me an agreed fee to create and develop these Thrifty and Organic Recipes. However, as I am a big supporter of organic produce, I am happy to share these sponsored organic recipes and posts on my blog, for the benefit of my readers. Karen S Burns-Booth

A light and fluffy two chocolate mousse that is perfect as a light dessert for Easter or even Christmas and Mothering Sunday; this French inspired recipe uses white and milk chocolate and is decorated with seasonal chocolates on top of whipped cream.

Ingredients

4 free-range eggs

100g organic dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)

50g organic white chocolate

4 tablespoons double cream

150mls whipping cream or double cream to serve

Mini chocolate eggs or other chocolate Easter sweets to serve

Note

A light and fluffy two chocolate mousse that is perfect as a light dessert for Easter or even Christmas and Mothering Sunday; this French inspired recipe uses white and milk chocolate and is decorated with seasonal chocolates on top of whipped cream.

Directions

Step 1

Break the dark and white chocolate into pieces and place in a bowl that sits over the top of hot but not boiling water. Heat the chocolate until melted.

Step 2

Separate the eggs, and then whisk the egg whites until they hold soft peaks.

Step 3

Mix the egg yolks into the melted chocolate and whisk in a quarter of the whisked egg whites, along with the double cream. Gently fold in the rest of the egg whites, mix well, and then spoon the chocolate mousse into 4 glasses. Put the mousse in the fridge to set for at least two hours.

Step 4

Just before serving, whip the cream and spoon it over the top of the chocolate mousse, then decorate with mini chocolate eggs and/or other Easter chocolates or sweets.

A fabulous French inspired recipe for slow roast lamb with a Dijon mustard crust, fresh herbs and garlic; this recipe makes its own red wine gravy that is infused with the herbs and garlic and is perfect for any special celebratory meal such as Easter or Mothering Sunday, as well as for a wonderful family Sunday lunch.

Ingredients

1 x 2kg to 2.2kg leg Organic British lamb

6 to 8 garlic cloves, peeled

Dijon mustard

Sea salt flakes

Freshly ground black pepper

Fresh herbs such as Rosemary, Thyme and Savory

1 x 125ml glass of red wine

Note

A fabulous French inspired recipe for slow roast lamb with a Dijon mustard crust, fresh herbs and garlic; this recipe makes its own red wine gravy that is infused with the herbs and garlic and is perfect for any special celebratory meal such as Easter or Mothering Sunday, as well as for a wonderful family Sunday lunch.

Directions

Step 1

Pre-heat oven to 160C/375F/Gas mark 3.

Step 2

Push the garlic cloves into the leg of lamb – make a small cut with a knife and then ease them in.

Step 3

Spread the mustard over the whole leg of lamb and then season to taste with salt and pepper.

Step 4

Place the leg of lamb into a large roasting tray and arrange the fresh herbs on and around the lamb; pour the glass of wine into the roasting tray and cover the lamb loosely with foil.

Step 5

Cook the lamb for 4 ½ hours before removing the foil and allowing it to brown for the last half an hour.

Step 6

Take the lamb out of the oven when cooked and cover again with foil, leave to “rest” for 15 minutes before carving and serving with seasonal accompaniments and gravy.

Step 7

Gravy: Pour the juices from the roasting tray into a saucepan and add 2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon of flour mixed with a little water – heat over a gentle heat whisking all the time until the gravy has thickened. Adjust seasoning and thickness with extra wine or water. Serve hot.

It is making me so hungry looking at these pictures! A perfect Easter meal, and it’s great to see you pushing organic produce (although I know that’s not a new thing for L&L!). Ever since I saw that YouTube clip comparing an organic and non-organic sweet potatoes I’ve been convinced that it’s worth spending a little extra on organic produce and thinking more carefully about how to use it in order to make back the additional outlay. If you haven’t seen it, while the organic spud seeded quite quickly in a glass of water, the non-organic potato just didn’t grow any sprouts, very weird.

Thanks Mary! I have an Aga, with two ovens; however you can cook the lamb first and then add the veg 30 minutes before the lamb is cooked and then raise the temperature when the lamb is “resting” and cook it for a further 30 mins.

Oh karen, i’ve been absolutely loving your posts recently but this one is stunning… I love a wonderful garlicy lamb and this looks like such a winner… i can’t wait for Easter now, having seen this. So lovely…. oh and those little chocolate rabbits are just adorable. The mousse looks so naughty too!

Meet Karen

Bienvenue! I'm Karen; it’s lovely to see you here. I share my time between beautiful North Yorkshire and SW France. I am a freelance writer and recipe developer with a passion for art, travel, books, photography, seasonal food and especially cheese! Please do get in contact with me if you have any questions about my work or commissioning me. Read More…